Nicolbolas Cage's page

1) That pretty much hits the nail on the head. Kazavon built himself up to be a tasty target for all the crusader types, and for the most part did more harm than good to the greater faith of Zon-Kuthon. That's not to say that he didn't have Z-K's favor; he certainly did, but many living Kuthites feel that painting a giant "crusade me" sign on your back is a quick way to get part of the faith wiped out.

2) Laori and Sial are fairly honest with the players. At the start of chapter 5 there's a mention that they've been sending promising, yet inaccurate reports back to the Brotherhood. They don't want the BoB to learn about the Crown of Fangs until they have it in their hands, because otherwise the BoB might send a strike force in. Laori and Sial are interested primarily in the glory that would come with recovering the Crown themselves. They absolutely would try to assuage the fears of PCs, who will likely suspect that the evil characters will inevitably backstab them. In fact, the pair of Kuthites legitimately want to work with the PCs towards the same goal, and make sure the Crown never falls into the wrong hands again.

3) I'm just about to wrap up chapter 4 with my group, but I anticipate my party accepting their offer. They already enjoyed Laori's company in chapter 3 (in part due to nobody in the group having Knowledge: Religion, and thus nobody knowing who or what Zon-Kuthon was), and have a penchant for making deals with unsavory characters to achieve their goals (Devargo, "Glorio"). The best way to make your PCs trust NPCs is to not portray them as overtly nefarious. Laori is a happy-go-lucky elf who just happens to like giving enemies hugs of death, and keeps her torturous sadomasochism mostly to herself. Sial's a grumpy old man who wants those damn kids to get off his lawn, who just so happens to be a high ranking worshipper of the Midnight Lord. Both of these NPCs are out to save Korvosa as their primary goal, and they should try to convince PCs of this.

Hope this helps.

Yes please cancel the order. My local game store got a copy in a couple weeks ago and I can just go buy from them.

I placed this order a month ago and it's still listed as pending. I can't get any information on what's going on with it, and it may as well be cancelled at this point if you're not going to bother shipping it to me.

Well even levels you gain studied strike damage, so that's how you gain something new each level. Studied strike even and talents odd. At lv2 you get poison use.

What did you change your houserule to?
Giving them a talent each level? (each time is worth a feat)
Giving it to them level 1? (early access and can start taking feat lv1)
Giving it to them even levels? (early access and then you don't really have anything to gain on odd levels. )

Studied Strike damage improvement is a rather weak argument for what investigators get at even levels. Compare sneak attack or alchemist bombs, which improve at odd levels (in addition to the character gaining a feat).

We changed it to be similar to how slayer talents/rogue talents/alchemist discoveries/barbarian rage powers work; in that you start gaining them at level 2, and gain them at even levels. Since you gain feats at odd levels, you still get something knew at every level instead of just "my numbers go up". This makes the investigator slightly stronger at every even level than RAW, but overall smooths out the class' progression.

I really love the Investigator class as presented in ACG, but there's one thing that has continually bothered me since its inception, which I have actually houseruled away in my home games:

Why does the investigator gain talents at odd levels starting from 3, instead of even levels?

This seems utterly incongruous with all other precedent of gaining something new at each level. Instead of having staggered progression, the investigator gains a huge bump in prowess at every odd level.

Was there a specific reasoning for this in development? Did they just want talents to be separate from Studied Strike damage? I can't figure it out.

Nicolbolas Cage wrote:

I can't really use homebrew rules since this is for PFS, though. Is there an official ruling somewhere that I just haven't been able to find yet?

I had 3 (out of 3) PFS GMs that all ruled it the way Kared's did. There is no real answer anywhere, unfortunately.

Fair enough, I'll have to bring my Bestiary 1 and probably 2 to PFS and get some silly skeletons. Thanks!

I can't really use homebrew rules since this is for PFS, though. Is there an official ruling somewhere that I just haven't been able to find yet?

The human skeleton advanced seems reasonable, even if it does fall off later on and isn't as strong as a Summon spell. Still, not bad for a standard action. Would an ability score (strength, for example) advance every 4 hit dice the skeleton/zombie has? I'm aware they don't get feats, but I'm unsure about ability advancement.

The Raise Dead thing is a little disappointing, but understandable. Shame that I can't get blood money as an Oracle, though. Oh well, one or two dead mystery spells isn't a big deal.

Raise the Dead (Su): As a standard action, you can summon a single skeleton or zombie to serve you. The undead creature has a number of Hit Dice equal to your oracle level. It remains for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier. At 7th level, you can summon a bloody skeleton or fast zombie. At 15th level, you can summon an advanced skeleton or zombie. You can use this ability once per day plus one additional time per day at 10th level.

How would this work in Pathfinder Society? Perhaps a better question would be how does this work at all? Since skeleton and zombie are templates, how exactly do I summon one?

Another question I have is about how the use of Animate Dead works in Pathfinder Society; for starters, is it even allowed? Are ANY spells with the [Evil] descriptor allowed (assuming I of course am of neutral alignment, since evil is rightly forbidden). If it is allowed, do my minions transfer over from scenario to scenario, or are they (and the black onyx used to create them) lost at the end of each scenario?

Looks like it requires worship of Gorum, per Archives of Nethys.

Sold. If that's the only requirement then I'll pencil that on the new character's sheet and be on my merry way. Thanks!

If you're a fighter, why would it matter if its a martial weapon or a simple one? Are you taking an archtype that removes them?

I'm going to be playing a Slayer, but it's not the proficiencies -- it's making heavy shields to be considered light weapons instead of one-handed weapons, which means you can Two-Weapon Fight at less of a penalty with a heavy shield. Going from a light to heavy shield in your offhand while Two-Weapon fighting steps the damage die up one step and gives you a bonus 1 AC.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/religion-traits/shield-trained

You were trained to use shields as weapons.

Benefit: Heavy and light shields are considered simple weapons rather than martial weapons for you. Heavy shields are considered light weapons for you.

Source: Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Gods

I stumbled upon this trait while looking up potential picks for my Sword and Board fighter and this just blew me away. I don't have the PDF myself and I'm not sure I want to spend 30 dollars checking to see if this trait has a specific deity requirement (as it is from Inner Sea Gods). Additional Resources says all traits from the book are legal, but can someone confirm this doesn't have hidden strings? Because this might be an auto pick for anyone making a Two-Weapon Fighting shield build (all three of us).

A) Are these legal in PFS, and
B) Will they improve my day job check?

No.

Even thought none of the traits are listed as illegal and Adopted provides an exception?

According to additional resources for Ultimate Campaign,

Note: Race traits are only available for characters of the associated race. Religion traits are only available for characters of the associated religion.

I wish to, as a human, take the Helpful race trait from Halfings of Golarion using the Adopted social trait from Ultimate Campaign for use with the Bodyguard feat. Is this legal for a PFS character?